CUPID'S MAGIC ENDURES; COUPLE TO RENEW VOWS 50 YEARS LATER.Byline: Karen Thacker Community Columnist What's Ed and Jackie Coyle's secret to a fifty-year, romantic marriage? ``Well, you marry the right woman to start with,'' Ed said. ``A lot of love,'' Jackie said. ``I think you have to try and understand each other no matter what.'' ``You have to cooperate with each other and communicate together,'' Ed continued. ``Sometimes we talk through things to death - but it works,'' Jackie added. ``You have to have patience - Ed has a lot of that.'' And don't forget the power of touch. ``He's a big hand-holder,'' Jackie said. ``Sometimes in the middle of the night I'll turn over and he'll grab my hand.'' It hasn't been hard for relatives to keep track of Ed and Jackie's anniversary for the last 50 years. The enduring couple wed Valentine's Day Valentine's Day: see Saint Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day Lovers' holiday celebrated on February 14, the feast day of St. Valentine, one of two 3rd-century Roman martyrs of the same name. St. 1949 - following a tradition started by Jackie Coyle's parents in 1920 - and raised six children, imparting im·part tr.v. im·part·ed, im·part·ing, im·parts 1. To grant a share of; bestow: impart a subtle flavor; impart some advice. 2. the specialness of Valentine's Day to them with yearly candlelight anniversary dinners and small gifts for the children. ``They used the occasion of their special day to enlarge the circle of love - that's what they communicated to us,'' said daughter Colleen col·leen n. An Irish girl. [Irish Gaelic cailín, diminutive of caile, girl, from Old Irish. , who continued the Valentine wedding tradition with her own marriage 24 years ago. ``Valentine's Day was a much more important holiday to us than the rest of society.'' And this morning, Ed, 78, and Jackie, 68, will repeat their vows during a Mass at St. Andrew's Abbey St. Andrew's Abbey is a Benedictine monastery of men located in Valyermo, California. In 1929, St. Andrew's Abbey in Bruges, Belgium founded St. Andrew's Priory in China. Until 1953, the monks of St. Andrew's Priory conducted missionary work among the Chinese. in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains San Gabriel Mountains, S Calif., E and NE of Los Angeles, running c.50 mi (80 km) westward from Cajon Pass. San Antonio Peak (10,080 ft/3,072 m) is the highest of the range. Citrus fruits are raised on the southern foothills. . Their five surviving children gathered from Arkansas, Alabama, Fountain Valley Fountain Valley, city (1990 pop. 53,691), Orange co., S Calif.; inc. 1957. Chiefly residential, Fountain Valley also has diverse manufactures, including apparel, computer equipment, semiconductors, and medical equipment. A U.S. navy helicopter facility is there. , Sherman Oaks and Lancaster, along with their four grandchildren GRANDCHILDREN, domestic relations. The children of one's children. Sometimes these may claim bequests given in a will to children, though in general they can make no such claim. 6 Co. 16. and two great-grandchildren, for today's ceremony. The Coyles' romance began in 1944 by letter, after Ed saw Jackie in a photograph from a cousin's wedding. The teen-ager was already keeping up a correspondence with several servicemen away fighting in World War II but added Ed, a Marine, to her list. Their interest in one another grew, and when Ed came to Peoria, Ill., for leave, the two ``went steady'' for two to three weeks until he left again. He wrote to Jackie every day after that. The next time they had a week together they got engaged. For more than a year, most of the relationship was long-distance. After Ed was posted in Peoria for recruiting duty, they were wed on Feb. 14, 1949. Jackie's parents, Patrick and Lydia Nelson, hadn't actually been aiming for Valentine's Day. They had a whirlwind whirlwind, revolving mass of air resulting from local atmospheric instability, such as that caused by intense heating of the ground by the sun on a hot summer day. romance and in order to work a wedding date into their schedules, Valentine's Day happened to fit the best. The date's romantic connotation con·no·ta·tion n. 1. The act or process of connoting. 2. a. An idea or meaning suggested by or associated with a word or thing: wasn't lost on Jackie, however. ``My mother couldn't understand why I was so dead set on getting married that day,'' she recalled. For Ed, the date wasn't as important as the bride. ``I was just going to get married, and she had the say,'' he recalled. Jackie had a heart-shaped wire frame for her bouquet. The bridesmaids, her two sisters, wore rose-colored dresses with heart-shaped bustles in the back with flowers tucked in. The bride was in a traditional white satin wedding gown. The groom wore his Marine Corps uniform. The gown has become a family tradition. By the time Ed and Jackie were married in 1949, Coyle had been in the Marine Corps for nine years. They couple moved from Illinois to Kentucky to El Toro El To·ro An unincorporated community of southern California southeast of Santa Ana. Founded in the 1890s, it is mainly residential. Population: 62,685. , to Korea to Costa Mesa Costa Mesa (kŏs`tə mā`sə), city (1990 pop. 96,357), Orange co., S Calif., on the Pacific south of Santa Ana; inc. 1953. It is a transportation, residential, and light industrial center. - finally settling in Lancaster in 1952. For their 50th anniversary, the Coyles' children organized a party Saturday night for family and friends. The Coyles planned the renewal of vows - nothing fancy, just the traditional ceremony. ``That's what we had originally, and it worked,'' Ed said. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1-2--Color) Above, Ed and Jackie Coyle of Lancaster will renew their wedding vows today. Top left, the Coyles were married on Valentine's Day in 1949. Hans Gutknecht/Daily News |
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